Credit: Misbehave / Flickr

Thurman writes, “I have a hard drive that was removed from my old computer before I got rid of it. It has some pictures on it that I don’t have stored anywhere else and some of my old tax returns. Is there anything I can do with it, or is it just a hunk of junk? And, should I be concerned about other people getting into it if I throw it out?” 

You can definitely make use of that old hard drive, and you can get those pictures and tax returns off of it too!

No matter how old your hard drive is, it will still probably work with the latest and greatest computers. If you have a new desktop computer, it might even be as simple as opening up your computer case and just plugging that hard drive in. This can be hit-or-miss since a lot of new desktop computers are so small that there’s no room for a second hard drive.

However, almost all computers have a USB port. All you need is a special adapter to change your internal hard drive into an external one, and then you can plug that hard drive into the computer’s USB port.

External hard drive adapters are available almost anywhere you can purchase computers, and vary in price from $5 to $30. If you’re only going to use it once, or you don?t care if it looks fancy, the lower priced ones will work just fine.

Now, Thurman, you asked if you should be concerned about your data if you just throw that hard drive away. The answer is a resounding YES. You should definitely be concerned about your privacy, as it’s just as easy for someone else to put that hard drive into their computer as it is for you. Even if you delete your sensitive files, they pretty easy to retrieve.

Your computer doesn’t really erase files when you delete them, it just pretends that the space is no longer written on. To make sure that your hard drive is secure and completely erased, the U.S Department of Defense recommends that you write over every sector with new data at least three times (or even up to 35 times, if you really want to be safe). Each single bit of the hard drive needs to be written over with all ones and zeroes.

We know that sounds daunting, but there are a few easy ways to accomplish this. If you have a PC, you can use a program like Eraser or the “Drive Wiper” feature in C Cleaner. If you’re a Mac person, try using a program called Permanent Eraser.

Just plug in your hard drive to your new computer using the USB adapter, run one of the programs to wipe it, and you’re good to go. Just make sure you wipe the right hard drive.

Deemable Tech – Episode 20 – What’s Black and White and Read All Over?

On today’s episode Tom got all the laughs, and Ray got all the crickets. There’s bad jokes, good apps, bad smart phones, and an eagle going through a midlife crisis.

Make sure to subscribe to the show in iTunes by clicking here, or subscribe to the show in another podcast reader by clicking here. Also, make sure to leave us a review in iTunes. The more reviews we have the higher we’ll be listed in iTunes and the more listeners will see our show!

Need tech help? Got a problem or tech question about your computer, phone or tablet? Give us a call and leave us a voice mail at 904-372-DEEM (3336), or send us an email to questions at deemable dot com. We’ll take the best questions and answer them on the show.

Today’s Questions:

• Which is better? eReaders or tablets?
• How do I setup an external hard drive as a network drive?
• I want a small smartphone. What do you recommend?
• Why do I have to keep resetting my wireless router?

Debunkable

• Do eagles go through a midlife crisis, too?

Links we mentioned on today’s show:

• 10 of the best feature phones
• Gizmodo – After iPhone 5 the Only Small Phones Left Are All Horrible
• iPhone 4S
• Galaxy S III Mini
• Droid Razr M
• Glympse
• Medhelper
• TextGrabber
• Google Search App on iPhone
• Lifehacker – Why do I have to keep resetting my Wi-Fi router, and how can I fix it?
• DD-WRT – Linux based alternative OpenSource firmware suitable for a great variety of WLAN routers
• Snopes – Eagle Rebirth
• Truth or Fiction? Eagle
• Hoax Slayer – Rebirth of the Eagle Hoax

Jessica wants to setup her external hard drive so that she can access it from her any computer in her house through her network, but doesn’t know how to do it. Hosts of Deemable Tech, Ray Hollister and Tom Braun, help her out. Listen to this week’s Ask Deemable Tech.

TRANSCRIPT

RAY: Hi, I’m Ray Hollister,

TOM: I’m Tom Braun,

RAY: and we’re the hosts of Deemable Tech. On the show, we answer your questions about computers, tablets, mobile phones and the internet, like this question:

TOM: Jessica writes:

I have a desktop and a laptop, networked together using my wireless router and the Windows networking stuff. I set it up so they could see each other and share a few folders, and my laptop could see the external hard drive hooked up to the desktop. It was basically the result of me pushing buttons until it worked. I really don’t know anything about networks! I like the way it works, except it’s inconvenient to have to have the desktop turned on to let my laptop get at the stuff on my external hard drive. Is there a way to hook my external hard drive up to… something so that it can be on the network *without* the desktop and just magically work?

Thanks for your email, Jessica. What you are wanting to do is turn your external hard drive into what is called a network hard drive. There are a couple of ways to do this. One, as you already know, is to set it up on your desktop as a shared folder. As you mentioned, the problem with that is that you have to keep that computer on if you want to access the files on any other computer.

There was something that came out a few years ago that was supposed to solve this problem called the Pogoplug.

TOM: That sounds cute.

RAY: It was a cute little device that ran for about $50 and the way it worked was that you plugged it into the wall, plugged it into your router, and plugged your external hard drive into it and voila, you had a network hard drive! You could even access your files online and on the iPad and iPhone.

TOM: OK, so problem solved, right?

RAY: The problem was that it didn’t work quite as easily as expected when it first came out, and there were some hardware problems with it too. The company still sells the device, but they mostly focus on Internet based cloud storage now.

It probably was a good thing that the company changed its focus too, because there’s another way to do this that makes the Pogoplug look pretty irrelevant and that is directly through your network router. A lot of newer Wi-Fi routers, including D-Link, Netgear, Linksys, and Apple’s routers, have USB ports on them so that you can plug an external hard drive into it, and it becomes a shared hard drive on your network. Or, you can plug a printer into the router and it becomes a shared printer on your network.

So, my suggestion to you would be to check your Wi-Fi router and see if it has a USB port. If it does, check the manual or look on the manufacturer’s website to see how to setup an external hard drive as a shared hard drive on your router. If it doesn’t, maybe it’s time to consider getting a new router. Just make sure that it says on the box that it has one or more USB ports, and that you can plug an external hard drive into it.

—-

TOM: To hear more answers to questions like Jessica’s listen to our show at Deemable dot com, that’s D-E E-M A-B-L-E dot com. There you can listen to all of our previous episodes and subscribe to our podcast.

RAY: If you have a question for Deemable Tech give us a call us at 1-888-972-9868, or you can send us an email at questions@deemable.com. For Deemable Tech I’m Ray Hollister,

TOM: and I’m Tom Braun.